Locomotive derails, destroys garage — for the second time

NIAGARA FALLS, N.Y. — Apparently, trains vs. garages is the latest trend in derailments.

A CSX locomotive overran the end of a wye at the railroad’s Niagara Falls Yard, derailed, and leveled a brick garage  on Monday, July 22, the Rochester Democrat & Chronicle reports, spilling up to 2,000 gallons of diesel fuel. It was the second time the house’s garage has been destroyed by such an accident.

The latest incident followed a Saturday, July 20, derailment in Fredericksburg, Va., in which a CSX train knocked over a wall that damaged four garages at a residential complex, destroying one [see “CSX train derails, damaging garages …,” Trains News Wire, July 21, 2024].

No injuries were reported in the Monday incident. Niagara Falls Fire Chief Gary Pochatko said 16 first responders attempted to contain the spill, although much of the diesel fuel reached the city’s sewer system. It was then diluted with water from fire hoses. Pochatko said the locomotive was being operated remotely but CSX said in a statement that it was “not equipped for remote-control operations.”

Homeowner Dean Harris told WBEN Radio that the garage, which is detached from his house, is a total loss, but there is hope that an SUV, motorcycle, and other objects inside might be salvageable. Harris told the station that his wife’s grandparents had previously owned the house, and the garage had also been hit and destroyed, along with two cars parked inside, in a derailment in the 1990s.